Investing in Kenya’s People: Valuing the Benefits of the U.S.-Kenya Relationship Executive Summary

Executive Summary

The United States is an important ally in Kenya’s bid to realize its Vision 2030 development blueprint, but little information is readily available for Kenyans to assess the value of this partnership in their daily lives. This report examines the benefits of the U.S.-Kenya partnership to Kenya’s growth and prosperity from a whole-of-society perspective. Collectively, U.S. government agencies, organizations, and individuals contribute an estimated USD 3.05 billion annually (KSH 310 Bn) to Kenya’s development.

The U.S. government contributes approximately USD 1.68 billion annually (KSH 171 Bn), heavily emphasizing the health, security, governance, and infrastructure sectors. This includes direct bilateral (USD 931 million) and multilateral (USD 73.5 million) assistance, as well as USD 678 million in indirect contributions from supportive trade, immigration, and investment policies.

U.S. non-governmental sources contribute approximately USD 1.36 billion annually (KSH 139 Bn). These include: USD 517.6 million in remittances from overseas Kenyans working in the U.S., USD 294.2 million in foreign direct investment, USD 270 million in NGO operations, USD 190.7 million in tourism related flows, USD 87.3 million from private foundations, and USD 4.6 million in microloans and individual donations.

Beyond these monetary gains, the United States-Kenya partnership contributes to growth and prosperity in other tangible ways:

• U.S. health-focused assistance not only helps save lives, but also contributes to Kenya’s economic productivity as people stay in the workforce longer. As the single largest provider of HIV/AIDS related funding (USD 4.5 billion between 2009-2018), the United States has mobilized resources and expertise to support Kenya’s front-line health workers in their efforts to combat the epidemic. We estimate that these efforts have helped save just over a million lives to date. As life expectancy increases, so too does the economic productivity of an average Kenyan’s life by 15 years.
• In directing an estimated USD 19.6 million annually (KSH 2 Bn) in governance-focused assistance, the United States helps Kenyan officials improve how they deliver services and respond to citizen concerns. A recent Afrobarometer survey suggests that as Kenya creates space for a growing diversity of political parties and citizens exercise their voice at the ballot box, households are more optimistic about their government’s ability to reliably and equitably deliver critical services. For example, there has been a 15 percent increase in households with access to clean water and a 40 percent increase in access to electricity between the years 2000 and 2017.
• U.S. agriculture sector-focused assistance helps increase Kenya’s rural productivity by mitigating climate risk, increasing market yields, and boosting market access. Agriculture generated 34 percent of the country’s growing GDP in 2018, up from 22 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, incomes per capita have steadily risen since 2008 and income inequality has declined since the 1990s. Since 3/4 of Kenya’s population relies either partly or completely on agriculture for their livelihoods, at least some of these gains are likely due to increasing agricultural productivity and associated revenues.